PhotoCopy

PhotoCopy is a plug in that allows you to copy files from your memory card, to the photo location in gppvr. You can also rotate and preview photos before copying.


Downloading and Installing

The latest version of the PhotoCopy plugin is v1.1. PhotoCopy.zip



Requirements

This plugin has been tested with GB-PVR v98.8b



Configuration

You must have at least 1 “Photo Folder” already setup in GBPVR under config. Because this is a new Plugin there are no skins available for it. Because of this, you’ll need to move the skin\blue\PhotoCopy directory in the zip file (which contains the skin.xml file) into your skin directory. If you are using the BLUE skin (GBPVR DEFAULT) then simply unzipping this into your GBPVR directory will work just fine.



Using the Plugin


You’ll need to select the source. Just use the SRC button to change to which drive you want to copy from. Then, select the destination. You’ll do this by using the DST: button. This is read from the config.xml in GBPVR. You choose these based on what’s setup in the config.



Then click SCAN MEDIA and it will go through and find all pictures on the disk.



From there you’ll need to go through each one and move it or copy it.



There is no “Copy All” button yet, this is by design. I felt that the whole reason I was writing this is because I needed to rotate pictures before moving them. If I copy all of them I’m back to where I stared.



CONTROLS: The controls are based off of the STANDARD keymappings. Here are what controls will respond



UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT



>> = ^F (Rotate Picture)



<< = ^D (Rotate Picture the other way)



REC = ^K - Move File to destination folder



PLAY = ^P - Copy file to destination folder



ESC/EXIT = ESC



Support

This plugin is discussed in the Developers forum

Blinky

Blinky is a plug in for GBPVR (http://www.gbpvr.com/) where it will light up the scroll lock key (or flash it) when it’s recording a show. Useful if you have a remote keyboard receiver with the lights on it (like I have). Then you can see a recording is in progress without looking at GBPVR or the TV screen.


Downloading and Installing

The latest version of the Blinky plugin is v1.0.2 Blinky.zip the blink.xml to the gbpvr root directory.


Once you have done this, load up the config app for GBPVR, and UNCHECK it in the plugin menu. It is not necessary for use, it doesnt have an interface anyhow.
That’s it, your scroll lock light will light up when recording.



Requirements

A scroll lock light where it’s visible. :)

This plugin has been tested with GB-PVR v98.08 and above

Configuration


You can customize the blinky.xml file to get some advanced features like a file that will show you what’s recording at the current time. Useful for other programs? Who knows.




blinky.xml tag Values


REFRESH is the time in miliseconds to refresh. This also controls flash so if you have this ”on” for 30000 milliseconds (30 seconds), it’s also off for 30000 seconds. Also,
for low horsepower systems every flash results in disk io and processing.
FLASH controls if you want flashing or just a steady scroll lock key light.


WRITEFILE controls if you want an output file (see what it contains below)


WRITEFILENAME controls the output path/filename for the file.

Output file will contain information on EACH show currently recording. So if you have more than 1 tuner recording you SHOULD have more than one entry in here. Since I only have 1 tuner, I can test this yet.


blinky.rec file example

------------------------------------
# Blinky Record Status File
Currently Recording: Days of our Lives
Start Time : 10/9/2006 1:00:00 PM
End Time : 10/9/2006 2:00:00 PM
File Name : C:\Days of our Lives\Days of our Lives_20061009_13001400.mpg
-----------------------------------------

Support

This plugin is discussed in the Developers forum

HARDWARE: Creating My own PVR for HDTV (ATSC) on a budget.

My installation from the get-go was a modest one. I didn't have a million bucks to throw into a PVR, just some spare parts and the purchase of the $39.99 Technisat Air2Pc card (eBay) and the Purvideo decoder $19.99. The rest I had already at the house.

Hardware Used:
Athlon XP 1600+ CPU
NVidia GeForce 5200 25MB Card (XFX Brand)
250GB Maxtor ATA-133 Drive
PC2700 Memory
Technisat Air2Pc (Generation 1) ATSC Card (BDA Driver)

Base Software Used:
NVidia Purevideo Decoder (formally DVD Decoder)
GBPVR v0.98.8
MS-DVR Mux

Though this I've learned a few things about ATSC and the setup above that I think will help everyone trying to get HD working (and working well) with their GBPVR setup.

Setting it up
1. Running v0.98.8
If your running v0.98.8 download the patches sub has put out at http://www.gbpvr.com/atsc-scan5.zip - This corrected my tuning (and many others) problem.

2. Decoding the HD signal requires a GOOD MPEG2 video decoder.

The Geforce 5200 (and above) models have hardware based decoding on the GPU. You can buy a 5200 card for $30 and because of the GPU the Purvideo decoder then offloads this from your CPU. When recording, and playing back under this scenario, I usually run around 60% CPU. 58% of that is the playback only 2% is recording.

I found that the Cyberlink decoder didn't do as good of a job. It used more CPU and couldn't take advantage of the GPU.

Don't be surprised if your video ends up choppy if you're running at near 100% CPU.

3. Mux settings.

Once again cyberlink mux didn't work as well as MS-DVR. Several threads here indicate that MS-DVR is the way to go, I agree. I get much better mileage from MS-DVR than .MPEG using cyberlink.

4. Antenna

I ran into some problems which I thought were hardware or GBPVR based with tuning. The fact of the matter is that this has a HUGE impact on your ability to get good HD signal. Some of this applies to general HDTV viewing not just recording. If you're serious about your setup there are 2 pages I suggest reading.

http://www.tvtower.com/hdtv_antenna_and_reception.html is written by a former Assistant Chief Engineer at a television station. This outlines that you shouldn't be using an amplifier as it can really hurt your signal. It also addresses issues in HDTV signal that many people may relate to GBPVR but are actually signal problems (as in my case). Skips, and choppy video can be interference not GBPVR, your Decoder or your CPU. This by far corrected many of my ATSC Tuner problems.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx is a great site for tuning up your HDTV antenna. This allows you to actually adjust it for the direction and location you are at. Great information. This alone increased my reception by pointing in the most accurate direction.

If you have issues with "Choppy video", "Pixilization" and "Gaps in recording" it may be your antenna setup. Even though your "TV" may have good reception, I have found that tuner cards don't employ the same quality in signal filtering that a good TV will.

Recordings

1. Make sure you have drive space!

Recording in my area usually range around 6.7GB per hour (HD Quality). This can quickly eat up a hard drive. Be prepared to delete recordings when you are done.

2. SD takes up less space

Know which channels are transmitting in SD. If you record SD it's considerably less space than HD.

3. Defragment

If you don't defrag your drive and you record often, you can see issues with recordings.
http://www.compu-docs.com/W2KDfrag.htm is a great article on scheduling defragmentation at "off hours". Pick a good time when they are running infomercials!


Hope this helps someone I've got a lot of hours tied up getting this running. You can get HD for less money!